Two private Queensland coal miners dole out almost $1.5b in dividends

afr.com:

Two little-known Queensland businessmen have become the beneficiaries of hundreds of millions of dollars in dividends paid by their private coal operations, with one, Sam Chong’s Jellinbah Group, paying out $900 million in returns to its owners in the past 12 months alone.

The Chong family own Jellinbah, a Queensland metallurgical coal producer which operates two mines, alongside Anglo-American and Japan’s Marubeni. The company reported $1.28 billion in profit for the 12 months to June 30, according to accounts filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, down from $1.91 billion in the last year.

Paul Chong, a Jellinbah director and Mr Chong’s son, said the Queensland government was unfairly targeting the coal industry after raising royalties last year to bring in a staggering $15 billion in additional revenue annually.

Coal production in Queensland’s Bowen Basin has underpinned the wealth of several private investors in the state. Glen Hunt

“We’re basically funding the Queensland government. They are not providing the services, they are not using the money well, none of the hospitals are running well and there is a lot of civil disobedience,” Paul Chong told The Australian Financial Review. “It’s not fair we’re getting targeted. Why don’t they go after the film industry or something?”

Paul Chong said he did not believe in human-induced climate change and his family were hoping to expand their investments in the Queensland’s Bowen Basin coal region. “Staying in coal is his [father Sam’s] idea – and getting the new tenements – he is obviously pro coal,” he said.

The company was holding a lot of cash and paying out a high rate of dividends as banks were reluctant to lend to coal projects, he added.